Stuff co.nz 15 October 2020
Family First Comment: Disturbing…
“In the early stages of the End of Life Choice debate in Parliament, I noticed something shocking: the young people I was working with were rehearsing the very-same arguments used by those supporting euthanasia – autonomy, dignity and compassion – and applying them to their own situations. Not much later, I noticed that the methods published in various End of Life Choice websites and print publications came up in a discussion with a client I was working with and who later attempted to end their own life. In my mind, I understand that assisted dying and suicide can, in principle, be distinguished from each other. That point is often made. But my real-life experience, and that of others in the field of mental health support, is that there is a huge potential for what the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention has called “overlap cases”. Any theoretical bright line between the two disappears at the coal-face.”
OPINION: My interest in the question of assisted dying began as a hands-on mental health practitioner working to dissuade young New Zealanders from committing suicide.
In my experience, when people feel their lives are not worth living, they reach for many and varied rationalisations. The work I do to support suicidal people is not so much a work of persuasion but more about accompanying them out of their existential distress, incrementally, day by day. This requires a delicate balance of risk and trust.
We work together to recognise situations that trigger hopelessness and create strategies to counter these until people feel that ending one’s own life is no longer considered the best solution to their complex problems.
In the early stages of the End of Life Choice debate in Parliament, I noticed something shocking: the young people I was working with were rehearsing the very-same arguments used by those supporting euthanasia – autonomy, dignity and compassion – and applying them to their own situations.
Not much later, I noticed that the methods published in various End of Life Choice websites and print publications came up in a discussion with a client I was working with and who later attempted to end their own life.
In my mind, I understand that assisted dying and suicide can, in principle, be distinguished from each other. That point is often made. But my real-life experience, and that of others in the field of mental health support, is that there is a huge potential for what the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention has called “overlap cases”.
Any theoretical bright line between the two disappears at the coal-face.
READ MORE: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/euthanasia-debate/123070527/would-legal-assisted-dying-add-to-our-dire-suicide-figures
